After Another Mission
by Yujianlong
Summary: When Jak comes back from a very difficult mission, Torn and Ashelin give the Demolition Duo a day off. When Ashelin decides that her first commander, too, might need a day off, things turn up side down.  Can Jak forgive a mistake made 5 years ago? J x T
1. Chapter 1

Hello, this is my first story in English and my first story about the Jax & Daxter games.

I hope you enjoy!

_I don't own the story and Characters from Jax & Daxter, Jak II and Jak 3. They belong to Naughty Dog!_

_The storyline of the fiction is mine. _

_I don't earn any money with this. _

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**After Another Mission**

Jak felt nothing except for tiredness. The mission, of which Torn had said would only take some hours, had cost him two days. Two days without sleep, for there were too many Metalheads hidden in the ruins to let his guard fall for only a minute.

When Jak finally arrived at the lock he was covered in mud and blood. Daxter was mocking about nothing and everything – dirt, Metalheads, Captain Laryngitis and his damn missions… Dax seemed as he wanted to go on like that for ever! "Can't you just shut up for five minutes?" And to his surprise, Daxter stopped talking. Driving was no option, since there were only Zoomers around and Jak didn't feel like he would be able to stay on the machine during a flight through the warzone. He grabbed for his communicator and noticed that the stupid thing got lost during the fights of the past days. "Damn…"

It seemed like hours had passed when they had finally arrived at the Headquarter. "I'm going to kill the Tattooed Wonder for this!" growled Daxter as they entered the dusky rooms, which Torn called his home.

"I'd love to see you trying that!" And there he stood, motionless like always, with a smirk on his face. "I'd rather kill you, for needing two days to fulfil the mission."

Daxter was already taking a deep breath to through some not so nice answers at the Freedom League leader, but Jak stopped him. For once the hero himself was angry enough to complain.

"Torn, there were more Metalheads out there, than a normal soldier could cope with. And you knew that. Otherwise you would have sent someone else, right?" Jak's eyes began to darken on the edge of the pupils and Daxter quickly left the scene.

Torn stepped back from the table covered with maps. For the first time, he really was able to make out the heir of Mar in the boy in front of him. It was not the dark eco that ran through Jak's veins or the light, which balanced his temper. It was the look on his face, the way he stared at him, his whole appearance.

"You're right, but not fully. I knew it was going to be though, but not like that. Besides, did you ever think about why I choose you to do the job? Because you _are_ the only one who can do it. You are able to handle a whole army of Metalheads all on your own. All soldiers of the Freedom League together wouldn't be able to do that job! I choose you because I trust your talent. You're my best man. And…" Torn stopped abruptly and shook his head. Jak looked puzzled. And he was pretty sure that Daxter would have had a perfect comment on it. What was wrong with Torn?

After a few seconds, he continued: "Jak, where is your communicator?" "Dunno. I guess I lost it somewhere out there." The heir of Mar said with a shrug. "I fear I was too busy saving my ass."

"Can you imagine how we were worried?"

"Can _you _imagine how much I don't care?"

Jak took off his armour, the goggles and his red scarf. He sat down on the only chair in the room, put his head on his arms and fell asleep. His body covered the most important part of Torn's maps, so the Freedom League commander took out his communicator and called Ashelin. "He's back."

After that he leaned against a wall near his table and waited. Daxter came back into the room, as soon as he noticed that the fight was over. He grabbed Jak's scarf and cuddled himself into the red fabric. Soon he too was fast asleep.

Ashelin arrived only a few minutes after Daxter had returned. She took a quick look at Jak, as if to check that he was real and slid down along the wall opposite Torn. She looked up at her first commander.

"Why didn't he answer our calls?" she whispered. "Lost the communicator." She nodded and silence followed. It endured for the next few minutes, before Torn broke it.

"I will not risk his life again." Ashelin's head snapped up: "What?" "I will not send him on any dangerous missions anymore. He can help in the Freedom League actions, but I will not risk losing him ever again."

Ashelin's soft chuckle irritated him a bit, till she explained: "So, you too, eh?" He needed a fairly big part of his self-control not to laugh out loud. "You have a very interesting way of saying things, my dear." She smiled. Ashelin was quite sure to be the only living person who knew that Torn was – or could be – a gentleman. "I'd love to know him save, Torn. But you know as well as I do, that he won't let you keep him imprisoned. Even if he complains about missions, he has always survived everything. I can't imagine any danger or challenge that would keep him from running out there."

"Why are you always right?" he murmured sadly.

Neither of them noticed the movement of Daxter's whiskers and the short twitching of his eyelids when he woke up.

"Ashe, I really don't know what to do with him. He's so… I don't know." "Stubborn?" Torn smiled: "No. It's more than that, he is reckless and bigheaded! He would never admit that a mission is on the limit of his skills. This outburst today was the first time I ever saw him admit that it was too hard. And that was all our fault!"

"Oh Torn. Stop that!"

"But it's true. If we would have told him about the Metalheads out there, he…" "Would have made the job anyway. You know him that well Torn. There is nothing that can keep him off of a mission if he gets it."

Ashelin was staring Torn down, despite the fact that he was standing and she was sitting. "Torn", she whispered: "Don't misinterpret my statement. I feel as much for this man as you do, but it's still his decision. You can try to talk to him, but you will not achieve anything, as you said: He's too stubborn." With those words she stood up and crossed the small room. "I have to go for a mission outside the walls. I guess it's going to take me a week or so. Take care of him. If he dies on your fault, you're going to follow him."

"As if I would risk to let him die if I can avoid it.", Torn growled.

Ashelin left the Headquarter and Daxter slowly began to move.

"So this is the big secret of Captain Laryngitis and our beloved baroness. And the reason you two don't talk to each other that often anymore."

Torn looked shocked. "You were awake?" "Jepp. Let's go outside, so we won't wake him up." Torn nodded and pushed himself off of the wall. Daxter jumped off the table and out off the door before Torn made his first steps but he didn't care. Before the door closed behind him he looked back to the sleeping Jak.

The ottsel was standing on an empty box, left behind by a citizen. "Okay rat, what are we gonna talk about now?" Daxter rolled his eyes.

"Back to our normal state of behaviour, aren't we Captain Laryngitis?" Torn smirked tiredly, so Daxter continued: "So what are you planning to do about the sleeping beauty in there?"

Torn shock his head: "Nothing, of course!" His thoughts were circling. He was confused and angry. The rat had found out his secret, which was bad enough. And now the fur ball was talking with him about Jak. This had to be a bad dream and if it was, he could as well play along. If it wasn't, it wouldn't help to block the conversation anyway. "I mean, why should I do anything about it?"

Daxter stared at the brown haired man in disbelieve. "What?" Torn snapped. "Are you as blind as you act right now, or did you really not notice?"

"Not notice what?" Daxter hit his own head with the flat hand. "I can't believe it!" he sighed. "You know what? Just forget that we were talking. I'm going back to sleep. I guess you wouldn't mind carrying Jak into our bedroom, right? Thanks!" And with these words he vanished back inside.

Torn stood there as if he had seen Ashelin in a tutu, then, shaking his head, he followed Daxter inside. The orange rat was nowhere to be seen, but Jak still lay there sleeping. With a sigh he lifted the blond up and carried him into the tiny bedroom he shared with Daxter. Carefully he lay Jak down on his mattress and covered him with a blanket. To his surprise Daxter wasn't here either. Torn looked down on the sleeping man.

Jak looked so fragile and soft. Torn took a deep breath and stepped back from the bed, resisting the urge to place a kiss on Jak's forehead. Still staring at the younger man he heard Daxter come and tried his best to look busy and right on his way to go out of the room. He was already at the door when Daxter, now from behind him, said: "If he didn't awake when you carried him, you can be sure he wouldn't awake when you, how to say it? When you would have touched something else. Got it?" Daxter grinned from ear to ear and hopped onto the bed, cuddling himself right next to Jak and closed his eyes.

Torn stood there for another five minutes watching. Daxter patiently ignored the looks he could feel on himself and soon fell asleep when Torn finally left the room.

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Soo.. this was the first chapter.

I hope you liked it. Please R & R. I want to get better!

Yujianlong


	2. Chapter 2

Here is number two. Enjoy!

_I don't own the story and Characters from Jax & Daxter, Jak II and Jak 3. They belong to Naughty Dog!_

_The storyline of the fiction is mine. _

_I don't earn any money with this._

**

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A Day Off**

"Dax… Hey, Dax. We have to get up if we want to get some breakfast before the Tattooed Wonder sends us on the next mission."

Jak sat up, and realized for the first time that he lay in his bed and couldn't remember how he got there. "Trust me Jak, we won't have any mission today!" murmured Daxter and turned around, huddling against the cushion and trying to fall asleep again. "Daxter? Are you ill or something? Do you have a fever?" The orange fur ball lifted his head and blinked at Jak. "Daxter, we're talking about Captain Laryngitis himself! Of course he has a mission for us."

"Go out and ask him, if you won't believe me. But I tell you, I have these vibrissae for some good reason." Jak was so irritated that he did exactly what Daxter had said. Behind him Daxter grinned. The blond had the habit to take off his shirt during the night when he felt to warm. And feeling to warm with an ottsel cuddling into you was not so difficult. So as a matter of fact, Jak was now leaving the bedroom with nothing more than his pants on. Torn was going to have the shock of his life.

Of course Torn was already wide awake and standing at his table plastered with maps. He heard Daxter's words about not giving a mission to the demolition duo and considered it. That rat was right. He wouldn't give Jak a mission today and not the day after either, if he could avoid it.

The next thing he heard were Jak's naked feet on the stony ground. The clicking of the door. He looked up and his heart stopped beating. Jak's hair was uncombed and stood from his head into all directions. The sleepy look on his face was cute, and Torn guessed that every woman who would see him like this could get hysteric. But the worst of all was his missing shirt. Jak's body was perfect! Every muscle was perfectly shaped and, well, just perfect.

Torn turned his look back to his maps to keep himself from staring at the younger man. "What's up today?" His voice was a bit husky from sleep and too much effort in the last days. Torn gulped and tried to steady his heart and breath. "No missions for you. After your outburst yesterday I guess you could need a day off." Jak stared wide-eyed at the Freedom League leader.

Torn looked up: "Something wrong?" Jak stood there frozen and then shook his head slowly. "Are you sure about this? I mean… No missions for us? That's so not you!" Daxter in the other room chocked his laughter with the cushion. Jak couldn't know how close he was to the truth.

Torn took another deep breath before he answered: "Jak, just let it be, ok? Take your day off and leave me with my maps, ok?" Jak didn't move. "And stop staring at me like I was someone different! It's just me, Torn." The sudden despair in his voice made everything even more strangely than it already was. "Torn, I…" At the other man's angry gaze he froze. Something was strange at this day and Jak hadn't figured out what it was yet. "Okay Torn. I don't know what's wrong with you, but I'm going to figure it out. Sooner or later I'm going to discover your dirty little secret." With those words Jak turned on his heels and walked back into his bedroom. Torn took a deep breath and sat down on the chair he normally never used.

Daxter's look was worried when he watched his friend enter the room. "Everything all right partner?" Jak sat down on the bed next to the ottsel and buried his face in his hands. "I don't know Dax. I feel so strange lately… About Torn, about Ashelin and about Keira. We're supposed to be the dream pairing of Heaven city. But we're _not_. Did you know that she had an affair with Jinx? Of all people she could have chosen, she took Jinx! We're not together anymore since three month and nobody noticed!"

"Whoa Jak. Make a break. You usually don't talk that much!" Daxter now really was worried. His friend didn't act like he was supposed to. He acted like a teenager when first in love. "Ok, after you took a deep breath, tell me what the matter is with you. But not too loud, we don't wanne have Tattooed Wonder hearing everything we say."

"Well, ok." Jak answered in a lower voice. "You see; the thing about Ashelin you know. The whole trouble with Keira started after Ashe kissed me in the desert after I defeated our mad head Errol. It felt so right then. I mean I knew she was with Torn before and afterwards I really felt guilty for it. But I didn't feel guilty for Keira because she wasn't there. She didn't come. Only Ashe came to celebrate my victory with me." There were two thoughts in Daxter's mind at that moment. First, too many words! Second, big trouble ahead.

"Okay partner. And what about our Tattooed Wonder?" To say the truth, Daxter really didn't want to hear it, but he couldn't leave his friend alone with this mess in his head now. And he was really curious about this triangle of Jak, Ashelin and Torn. Who's going to win the heroes heart? "Ok, let's continue with this mess."

"You want to know about Torn?" Jak sighed. "I don't know what to think about it. I mean… I couldn't… He…" "You what? Couldn't fall in love with a man?" "Even if I could, he never would… feel the same."

Daxter already opened his mouth to answer something as he was interrupted by a knocking on the door. "Yeah?" Said door opened and Torn looked into the small bedroom. "Breakfast arrived. Dunno if you want too… but well…" The tattooed man vanished and the door closed softly. The two friends were staring at each other. "Who was that?" "I'd say it was the same Torn that gave us a day off." Another minute of staring passed, then the tempting smell of fresh coffee made its way through beneath the door and into the noses of the demolition team. "Let's discuss this later. I'm hungry and this smells like the best coffee I've had in years!" said Jak and stood up. For a moment Daxter thought about reminding Jak of his missing shirt but then decided against it. There was a certain chance that somewhere in Jak's subconscious something had decided to do everything to impress the Tattooed Wonder.

So he followed Jak out of the room and to the tempting thing called coffee. To Daxter's surprise there were no maps on the table with only one chair. On the table was a beautiful breakfast with fresh bread and steaming hot coffee. "Where did you get that from Tattooed Wonder?" Daxter jumped onto the table and admired the food placed there. "Ashe sent it from the palace. She said we all could use a day off." "And since she knew you would work anyway she sent us breakfast?" asked Jak with a smirk. Torn nodded with a minimal smile on his face. Jak didn't notice, since he wasn't looking out for signs. But Daxter was and he noticed the look in Tattoo's eyes.

Meanwhile Jak had a completely different problem. There still was only one chair. And that was Torn's. He wouldn't just take it. Of course Captain Laryngitis never used his chair when he was brooding over his maps, but this was different. "Just take the chair. I'll sit on the table."

It was a strange feeling to be the only one sitting but thinking about the whole situation, this was the most normal part of it. Daxter sat there hugging his cup of coffee and looked completely happy. Torn had almost the same manner of eating breakfast as Daxter: First a piece of bread followed by one or two cups of coffee. Jak usually didn't eat much in the morning, but the last two days had leached him out. So he ate more than the other two. As he finished with most of the bread, he too, poured himself a cup of the hot brown liquid and leaned back in the chair. "So, what are we going to do on our day off?" Daxter and Torn stared at him unbelievingly.

"I guess I'm going to do the paperwork here. Ashe won't come here and check if I really do take a day off.", Torn shrugged. That was the moment his communicator sprang to life and, in form of Ashelin's voice, shocked Torn for the second time this morning. "Hey there. You three better take your day off, or I'm going to give you more of them. And at least with you Torn, I know that you would hate it." Torn stared at his communicator in disbelieve. How could Ashelin have known about the things they were discussing? Without waiting for any answer Ashelin continued: "I'm going to be in the Wastelands, doing some missions with the Precursor Monks. I guess I'll be back by the end of the week. Take care of yourself." And with this the communicator fell silent.

Torn was still frozen by shock, Daxter couldn't believe what he just heard and Jak was laughing out loud. "She won't come checking if you work or not? I guess you're wrong for once!" Torn nodded slowly.

"Do you think he'll recover from this?" murmured Daxter. Jak hid his grin behind the cup. "Well, I don't know what you two are going to do today, but I already know." "Oh, and what would that be?" asked the ottsel. Jak grinned: "I'm going for a swim in Heaven Forest. As fare as I know it's clear from Metalheads and the water is nicely cool out there." Torn looked at Jak in a way only Daxter could interpret since the orange fur ball knew a bit more about Capitan Laryngitis than Jak did. "Wanne come along, Tattooed Wonder?" Torn knew from the look on Daxter's face, that the ottsel was planning something. He just couldn't figure out what it was yet and he guessed that he wouldn't find out till it was too late.

"Since Ashe is going to kill me when I do anything for the League today, I can as well come with you two. Don't know what else to do anyway." Daxter's grin became wider. Torn shuddered. This was a bad sign!

They were already on their way to the lock that separated the city from the forest, when Daxter announced, that he had changed his mind about the bathing. "I'm going to see Tess. I bet she was worried too and I haven't seen her – or my bar – for a week. Have fun, maybe we're going to follow!" The ottsel jumped off of Jak's shoulder onto a zoomer and drove away into the direction of the port. Torn gulped. He had known that there was something fowl with Daxter's euphoria. "Damn rat…" he grumbled. Jak looked at him: "What has he done? I guessed that he would not come along. I was surprised anyway when he didn't want to go to the Naughty Ottsel in the first place." Torn nodded. What a mess he had come into…

They arrived at the lock and Jak stopped the car. "Never knew you could drive properly." "You're welcome." said Jak with a laugh. The brown haired followed Jak through the lock and to one of the many small lakes in the forest.

"Guess it's going to be a very hot day." said Jak, looking up to the cloudless sky. Torn nodded. What now? The Freedom League leader closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of Heaven Forest. The calm out here was wonderful. Torn couldn't remember when he had ever felt so free since the ending of the war. He opened his eyes and gulped. His inner calm was suddenly gone. Jak stood at the border of the nearest lake and looked into the water. And he had nothing on except for his shorts. He would kill the rat as soon as he could get his hands on the orange fur ball.

The heir of Mar checked how warm the water was and shuddered. The water was too cold for swimming but Jak didn't care. Out of a sudden mood he had decided to help the tattooed man behind him into the water. And he didn't care that said man still had all his cloth on.

Torn could feel something bad coming before Jak moved. The blond turned around, made two or three fast steps and grabbed him. "Jak, you won't…" Torn struggled to free himself from Jak's grip but failed. Jak was already standing on the border of the water when Torn finally accepted his fate. He felt a few seconds of comfortable warmth in the arms of the younger man then everything became ice. The water was so cold it knocked the breath out of him. He felt as if he was freezing. He could barely move, didn't know where up and down was.

Jak stood at the water and watched Torn struggle against the cold. But as the other man didn't surface he began to worry. He waited for another ten seconds then he jumped into the water. As Jak was prepared for the cold it didn't shock him as it had Torn before. The blond opened his eyes under water, grabbed for the almost motionless body in front of him and pulled the other man with him to the surface.

Torn gasped for air and clung to the only solid thing he could reach. Jak patiently waited for Torn to calm down then he spoke: "Sorry. I didn't know you Freedom League people aren't waterproof." He didn't want to be rude. But somehow it seemed that Daxter had affected his behaviour. Torn shock his head and then opened his eyes. That was the moment he realized, he was still clinging to Jak and loosened his grip. "Never do that again!" he panted, still a bit out of air. "I'll do my best. Let's get out of here, before we get a cold and aren't able to do our job for the rest of Ashe's absence." He carried the brown haired man out of the water, despite his loud protest about being able to walk by himself.

"I would take off those wet cloth." Jak requested: "You can have my jacket if you feel too cold." Torn looked up, irritated. Jak grinned: "I'm used to extreme weather and therefore to cold and heat. Furthermore the sun will soon be warm enough to dry your cloth and our hair." The brown haired man had nothing to reply so he did as Jak had suggested. He took off most of his cloth and lay down into the grass. The blond smiled lightly and shock his head. With a sigh he took Torn's wet cloth from the ground and spread them onto the rocks for drying. Torn opened his eyes and watched every single of Jak's movements. As long as Jak didn't notice that he was staring at him everything was ok.

"You'd be a perfect housewife." Torn mocked. "And you'd be my husband?" Daxter would have been proud for that reply. Only Torn didn't react the way Jak had expected. He froze and looked away. The blond was almost sure that Torn blushed a little bit. But that couldn't be. To cover the silence Jak put his own cloth in order and then lay down beside Torn.

The air was getting warmer with every minute and Jak dozed off. The birds and the wind in the trees were the only sounds as Torn watched a butterfly passing by. He held up his hand and the small creature sat down on his finger. It felt so strange. This was not how he was supposed to be. If any of the Freedom League would see him like that, he could never lead them properly ever again. The butterfly continued his way to a nearby flower. Torn noticed that the animal's wings were of the same colour as Jak's eyes – the same bright blue.

Torn shook his head. He started to get soft and this wasn't good. Not for himself, not for the Freedom League and not for Jak. The boy belonged to Keira and if not to her, to Ashelin. He sighed. The thought hurt Torn, but he wouldn't stand in their way. If Ashelin would win Jak's heart, everything for the cities would be perfect – Jak, the rightful heir of the throne of Spargus _and_ Heaven City, together with the baroness of the latter. Torn turned his head to the man lying beside him. "If you only knew", he whispered.

Jak's eyes flashed open and he turned his head to look at Torn. "If I knew what?" he whispered back. Torn felt sick. That wasn't supposed to be heard. "Nothing.", he replied and turned his face back to the sky and closed his eyes. He heard a movement to his right and opened his eyes when he sensed a shadow on his face. Jak leaned over him, a severe look on his face. "If I knew what?" Jak repeated. "If I tell you, she's going to kill me.", Torn murmured.

The heir of Mar looked puzzled. "Is something with… Ashelin? She acts strangely these days." "Yeah, I can imagine that." Torn looked away. This was how it was supposed to be, wasn't it? Ashelin and Jak. He loved Ashelin. Not like he loved here once, but like a best friend. And Jak… He tried to focus on the face of the younger man and saw the worry in his eyes. "What is with wrong with her?" Torn lifted the upper part of his body a little bit, shifted his torso, so that he lay more comfortably. And he wanted to win a few seconds time. He wanted to help Ashelin with her feelings, but it took a big effort to do it. It hurt him, especially now, that Jak was so close to him and Torn had to resist the urge to lean up only a little bit more and kiss him.

"You really didn't notice, did you?" he asked. Jak still looked puzzled. "How to say it? She likes you!" Jak leaned back and instantly Torn missed the warmth the younger man was radiating, missed Jak's smell. "She does what?" Torn resisted the need to roll his eyes. "Are you really that naive?" he wondered. "You mean she… loves me?" Everything in Torn screamed to say no, but he didn't give in. He had always been such a rational person; he wouldn't stop this now, so he nodded.

Jak let himself fall back into the grass and stared up into the sky without seeing it. "Jak, what is it?" Torn asked after a while in a low voice. Nevertheless Jak flinched. "I don't know what to make with this." the blond said slowly. "I mean... she's a wonderful woman. And she's hot. You can say a lot about Daxter, but he has a good eye for women!" Jak chuckled then he continued: "Nevertheless I have never seen her like that. Not really. I mean, you can't oversee that she's hot and all that. But I never saw her like that – as a potential partner. She's like a big sister to me. Something alike at least."

Torn stared at Jack in disbelieve. "And what about Keira?" Now that Jak had started talking the brown haired man got feeling that didn't want the other to stop again. He had a clear and soft voice, which Torn liked a lot. He wanted to hear it as long as possible. The Freedom League Leader guessed that Jak would stop talking as soon as they would go back into the city.

As answer he only got a sigh. He turned his head to Jak and saw the sad look in his eyes. "She, let's say, preferred another. Even if it was only for a night…" Now it was Torn's turn to lock puzzled. "With whom?" he whispered. Jak closed his eyes, took a deep breath and said only one word. Torn wouldn't believe his ears. "Jinx?" he asked unbelievingly. Jak nodded lightly.

"It happened shortly after I defeated Errol. She couldn't bear the thing with Ashe." Torn didn't answer. As far as he was concerned, Keira wasn't the only one who couldn't get over the kiss in the desert. He gritted his teeth and concentrated his view on a blade of grass right beside Jak's ear. The blonde opened his eyes and looked directly at Torn. "I'm sorry for what happened then. But in that moment, it felt right. She was the only one who came for me after the fight. Keira didn't, Samos didn't… Nobody came, except for Ashelin. She had been there for me all the time. She gave me the transmitter that saved my life. She came to the desert to remind me of my bloodline and she showed me that still someone cared for my life!" Jak spoke louder now, the anger coming back to the surface. "And then she kissed me out there in the desert and it felt so right. We have grown so close during the whole Dark Maker thing! And she has always given me the approval I deserved."

"You think I don't approve what you do for us?" Torn asked flabbergasted. "You really think I wouldn't know how hard your missions are? Do you think I would send you on the toughest missions if I wouldn't know how skilled you really are?"

Jak stared at him wide-eyed and Torn realized how angry he had gotten. He tried to calm himself then he spoke again: "Sorry Jak." "It's all right. I wasn't referring to you." Torn nodded and silence followed. It was getting warmer and Jak thought about going for another swim when Torn broke the silence.

"Don't blame yourself because of Ashelin. We would have separated anyway. You've always been the big hero and that's what women like." Jak stared at Torn unbelievingly: "No way Torn! You're the real hero in the League. If not for your strategic management, how would we have won this war?"

Warmth rushed trough Torn's body as he heard the blond's words but he didn't let it show on the outside. "Don't take me for a fool, Jak. We both know that I'm replaceable. You're not. Not only because you're the hero; you are the heir of Mar. And that about Ashe, why not? Politically it would be the best you can get. And as you said, she's hot." Torn grinned at Jak.

"I never was interested in her that way. When she kissed me out there in the Wasteland, it felt right. But then I felt guilty, because I knew you two were together. I never wanted to hurt you." Jak didn't look at Torn anymore, afraid that the other man could see the turmoil within him. Talking to him felt so good. He was not jumpy like Daxter and in some ways a better listener; and you could surely better discuss things with him.

Somehow Torn had overheard the last sentence and said: "She was always with me you know. When I nearly got crazy during my time in the Crimson Guard… Not long before I left, Praxis started a new experiment on living people. Without Ashelin I wouldn't have survived my time as a guard in the prison tract." Torn's voice faded into nothingness and his last words were carried away by the wind. But Jak had heard him anyway: "You were in charge of the Dark Worrier Program?" Jak had jumped to his feet and shouted at Torn, who only now realized what he had said so lightly. Jak had suffered in this program and had, as the only one, survived it. "How could you?" "Jak, I…" But the blond had already taken his cloth from the ground and didn't listen anymore.

"Keep your false excuses for somebody who wants to hear them!" he snarled and purple flashes danced around his body. He lifted a hand now armoured with long black claws and Torn's eyes became wide. Jak wouldn't do that, would he? The dark creature in front of him hauled off for a deadly strike, when with a flash of bright light the white eco took the control over Jak. Gleaming blue wings burst from Jak's back and he flew away from Torn, out into the densely wooded part of Heaven Forest. "Jak! Wait! Please let me explain." Torn slumped down onto the ground and closed his eyes. With broken voice he whispered: "How could I regret leaving you there, when the person I now know resulted from what happened then?"

Torn still sat there in the grass when Daxter and Tess arrived: "Hey Tattooed Wonder! Where is Jak?" Torn didn't move. The ottsel cocked his head and stared at Torn inquiringly. "Torn?" Tess asked tentatively and touched him on the shoulder. He looked up. "Where is Jak?" she repeated softly. A pained look appeared on Torn's face. "He left." the brown haired man said and pointed into the rough direction of Jak's flight. Daxter took a deep breath to control the instinct to shout: "Why?"

Torn turned his head to the fur ball and murmured: "I told him that I was a guard in the prison tract before I left the Crimson guard." Tess looked puzzled, Daxter's mouth hung open. "You were in charge of the eco experiments!" he stated and Torn flinched at the almost same words that Jak had used before. After a second of deep breathing Daxter shouted: "Tell me that you didn't leave a certain prisoner in this hell when you deserted from the guard!" "I did."

"And you told him that why exactly?"

"I didn't think. We were talking about me and Ashelin and that she has always been there for me during my hardest time in the Crimson Guard – the time before I left."

Daxter sat down on the grass, almost at the point where Jak had been sitting and folded his arms. "Dax, what's the matter?" Tess asked, worried for him. "Not yet, precious. I have to think!" In any other situation Torn would have laughed at this statement, but not now. He was too worried about Jak to really notice the words of the orange fur ball sitting beside him. "Okay, I've got a plan." Daxter finally announced and stood up: "Tess you go back to the Naughty Ottsel and Torn, you go to the old underground headquarter. If Jak comes back, he'll go to one of the places he's called home after his escaped from the baron's prison."

"And what are you going to do?" Tess wondered. Daxter took a deep breath. "I'll go looking for him out there" The female ottsel shot a worried look at the dark forests of Heaven and then glanced back at her lover. "Take care!" she said gently and placed a short kiss on his cheek. Then she turned around and started to walk back to the lock. Torn looked down on Daxter and said: "Find him, whatever it costs." Daxter nodded grimly: "You'd better have a good explanation for your behaviour back then in the prison when I come back." The brown haired man nodded once and turned into the direction of the lock. "And Torn", Daxter said with a dark tone in his voice: "if you ever hurt him again, I'll personally take care that he doesn't have enough light eco to control his rage." The Freedom League leader stared back at the ottsel and wondered how the fur ball had found out what had saved his life only a few minutes ago. Daxter waved and started running.

* * *

Hope you liked it. Please R & R


	3. Chapter 3

Here comes number three

_I don't own the story and Characters from Jax & Daxter, Jak II and Jak 3. They belong to Naughty Dog!_

_The storyline of the fiction is mine. _

_I don't earn any money with this._

* * *

**In the Woods**

"Seem! How much longer is this going to go on like this?" Ashelin shouted against the sandstorm raging outside the cave they used as shelter. Seem only shrugged and continued to stare into the twirling sand outside their hiding place.

"How long do you think is it going to take us to arrive at that strange Forest you told me about?" Seem shrugged again: "Depends on the sandstorms. Without any further storms, I guess will have to travel for one more day." Ashelin nodded.

She lay back onto the stony ground and sighed. Seem smiled lightly and looked down at the red haired women. "You want to go back home as fast as possible, don't you?" Ashelin nodded again. "Why?" Seem asked. A sad look appeared on the baroness's face and she said: "There is a person I would want to protect in Heaven City. But that person doesn't want to be protected. Nevertheless I would at least feel a bit better when I'm in the city and therefore closer to him."

"You are talking about the heir of Mar, right?" Seem guessed and smiled. Another nod from the red haired women. "You love him." It was no question, so Ashelin didn't answer or react in any way.

After some minutes of silence the Precursor Monk spoke again: "The sandstorm is almost over. I guess we can risk to go out and continue our journey." Ashelin stood up silently and marched to the entrance. Seem caught up with her and the two women headed to the left.

"What exactly are we going to look for in that forest?" Ashelin asked after two hours of silent walking in the desert. Seem lifted her view from the sandy ground and looked directly into Ashelin's eyes. "A forest of that size is not so usual in a desert." she said with a smile. "The other monks said that it might be the same forest as the one connected to Heaven City. In this case it would be very interesting for the water supplies of Spargus. If a forest is able to grow out into the desert, there has to be water!" "Makes sense", the baroness replied with a smile. Seem chuckled: "But first we have to find out if our desert forest is connected to the Heaven Forest. And this means that we have to get to its borders then we head into the direction of Heaven City, still along the edge of the woods."

Again they fell silent and continued their way. The sun already set when Ashelin could make out a line of dark green at the horizon: "Seem, I guess we're almost there." The other woman smiled and slowed her step. "I don't believe that we should reach the forest by night time. What do you think about this formation of rocks there?" the Precursor monk asked and pointed a long finger to a dark shape to their right. Ashelin nodded.

They arrived at the formation when the sky became dark and the cool of the desert's night started to get nasty. The red haired woman wasn't surprised anymore to find wood at the back of a small cave. The Precursor Monks seemed to have a control over the whole desert.

After they managed to light a fire Ashelin asked the other woman: "Since you and your monks have met the Precursors you don't concentrate on their artefacts that much anymore, do you?" Seem looked surprised. "You are very attentive." she said: "And you're right. We still have a small group of monks who work with the artefacts, and the beginners have to learn how to detect and analyze them. But the rest of us tries to optimize the living for our people. And since we are allayed with Heaven City, this means we try to optimize your life too."

Ashelin lay onto the ground and looked at Seem. "I'm grateful for what you do for my people. We still can learn a lot from Spargus." Seem cocked her head in a playful way and smiled. "If only all of the city people would be that accessible." The baroness laughed softly then she sighed. "Is there something you would like to talk about?" Seem asked.

Ashelin smiled. The Precursor Monk was such a polite person even now when they had become something like friends. She looked up to the dark sky above her and said: "What would you do, if your best friend and you would fall for the same guy?"

Daxter had been following the sent of light eco for hours, but hadn't found any other sign of his friend yet. The ottsel started to worry. The sent of eco started to die away and Daxter had no idea how he would try to find Jak without it.

Nightfall was long gone and the orange animal was still running. The track was almost gone and still no sign of the missing hero. Daxter slithered to a halt and tried to steady his breath. He leaned against a high tree and looked upwards to the black sky. With a shrug he decided the crazy idea in his mind was worth trying and started to climb the tree. He met some squirrels on his way to the top and far too many brittle branches which jabbed him in the legs and his ears.

When he finally arrived at the top the ottsel couldn't believe his plan had actually worked. Not to fare away from the tree he stood on, he could make out a dark violet light. "Jak", Daxter whispered with a worried look. Obviously his friend had run out of light eco, but instead of changing back into his human form, he had directly changed into his dark personality. Daxter knew that he could approach the dark eco fiend without risking his life, but he would prefer not to if he would find a way to avoid it. The ottsel estimated the distance between his tree and the next and jumped. He barely reached the branch and almost fell. Nevertheless he did the same on the next tree. It took more time than running on the forest soil, but he could better see the direction he had to take.

He continued like that for several trees before he got to the first real hindrance – a flow. Daxter let himself slid down along the trunk, back to the ground. The last meter he jumped and landed in a heap of dried leaves. Splitting brown particles he surfaced and headed to the river he had already made out from the treetop. The torrential water was wider than it had seemed from above and Daxter had no idea how he should cross it. He cursed. This wasn't good!

He looked to the left and to the right. Thanks to his ottsel eyes he could make out a fallen tree somewhere upwards the course of the river. Daxter fell down onto his forepaw and started to run again.

Seem looked surprised. "This is a difficult situation." she stated. "What do you feel about it?" Ashelin sighed: "If my friend would win Jak's heart, I wouldn't stand in their way. I guess we should be that mature. Of course it would hurt me. But I'm not sure that my friend would do the same." Seem thought about it then she asked: "If you would notice that Mar was in love with your friend, what would you do?" Ashelin smiled: "You have a talent in asking the right questions." Seem laughed lightly. "I guess I would give Jak a hint, that he has a chance. I guess I would die doing it, but I'd do it anyway. I love them both and if they would be happy together then I think I could be happy with them." Ashelin knew she sounded sad but it was the truth. If Jak loved Torn she would smile seeing them happy.

"You are a very courageous woman, Ashelin Praxis. The city of Heaven has found a good baroness." The red haired women stared in surprise at the Precursor Monk. "Thank you, Seem"

The trunk lay over the river and enabled the crossing of the water. Daxter hesitated only a moment then he jumped onto the wood and balanced over to the other side. He didn't stop when he saw the trace of long claws in the bark and he continued even when he heard an inhuman screech. "At least this means I'm finally getting closer." he murmured.

On the other side of the rapid water Daxter found Jak's new communicator. He stared at the little metal thing in disbelieve. Then he got very angry. "I'd bet this idiot tried to call him." The ottsel picked up the communicator and looked through the saved numbers. It didn't take him long to find Capitan Laryngitis' number and called him. "Did you try to call Jak?" he growled into the communicator before Torn could say a word. There was a second of silence before Torn answered with a hoarse voice: "No I didn't. I didn't even know that he had his communicator with him." Daxter nodded, although Torn couldn't see him: "Good. I have his communicator now. And I think I found him, but I don't dare to come near him at the moment." "Why?" "Have you ever seen Dark when he was angry?"

"Guess this is answer enough. But I thought that you could go near him?"

Since Torn couldn't see him, Daxter rolled his eyes and sighed deeply: "I can. But this doesn't mean that I like it!"

Torn didn't reply to this. "I'll call you again if I should need help. As far as I know Jak, you should get some green eco packages ready at hand." With this Daxter closed the communicator and strapped the apparatus onto his back then he continued his way.

Soon the smell of dark eco became so intense Daxter could hardly sense anything else anymore. The ottsel was much more worried now than he had been before. Daxter was pretty sure that he was still quite far away from the place where he had seen the violet light and nevertheless the trace was already so strong!

After a few more meters Daxter came across the first signs for Jak's pain. More trees had been damaged, some pulled out. The ottsel could smell the blood of animals which had come across the rampaging Jak. When Daxter heard another screech of pain and anger he stopped. The orange lightning decided to wait for the morning till he'd continue his search. If he had to face his friend in this condition, he would prefer to do so by daylight. When he looked around, the ottsel found a hole beneath one of the pulled out trees and slipped into it. It wasn't comfortable and it stank of eco and mouldiness but he wouldn't find anything better in short time.

Torn sat in the old Underground Headquarter and worried. He couldn't find any reasonable explanation for his behaviour in the Heaven Forest. First of all he never was as talkative as he had been there. And he never ever talked with anybody except for Ashelin about his time in the Crimson Guard.

This whole mess had started because he said the wrong in the right moment. Everything had been perfect. Of course it would never be like that again. He had been so careful not to harm Jak, not to say anything wrong. But talking to him felt so good! Normally he talked with Ashe about his problems and worries. But sometimes it helped to talk to someone else and Jak had appeared to be a very good conversational partner.

What had happened in the prison of Heaven City was the darkest part of his past. He didn't talk about it because it hurt him only to think about it. Not only had the Dark Worrier program been horrible to witness, but also all the pain and despair in the prison itself. Of course the last of the baron's experiments had been the worst. Every _object_ died after one or two injections. All of them screamed and pleaded for them to stop – all except for that boy. He had been silent during all the sessions Torn had witnessed and he had survived! The Freedom League leader shook his head. Even now, three years later he couldn't get the boy's look out of his nightmares. His silent suffering had been worse than any scream and it had gone on and on. Death didn't come to release this one.

"But I'll never say that I regret what I did then. I decided to leave the Guard and left him behind. How could I regret a decision that has made him the man he now is?" Torn whispered into the dark of the empty room.

Tess had a full house to serve. Since Torn had given back the Naughty Ottsel to its owners, the bar was even more popular than before. Daxter had made everything as easy as possible to work with for the ottsel pair but when the bar was full, it was still very stressful.

For the biggest part of the evening she couldn't waste a single thought for her friend and the missing hero. She was just too busy. When the bar finally started to empty she was standing on the counter and talked to Keira. "You know, I still can't understand why you separated." she said while slithering over the wood with a wet cleaning rag under her feet. Keira became pale. "There was this thing with Praxis' daughter, haven't you heard of it?"

The light orange animal stopped and turned her head and said snippy: "And you couldn't bring yourself to forgive him? You couldn't forgive the heir of Mar, the hero who saved the world twice?" Keira looked away. The bar was empty now and Tess jumped down from the counter to close the door. "I understand that you are proud and that you are hurt. I'd be so too. But don't you think he has suffered enough by now?"

Keira didn't reply and still avoided her look. "Is there something I should know?" Tess asked. Before the blue haired woman could answer someone knocked on the door. "Yes?" Tess called and from the outside came a voice that Keira knew only too well. "Is there a drink left for an old friend?" Jinx called and the mechanic froze. Tess shot a quick look at her and went back to the door to let Jinx in. "I guess you want to have your favourite." "I love hot things, you know that very well, sugar." he said with a smile. Then his look fell on Keira and he smirked. The blue haired woman had turned her back to the door and fixed her eyes on her drink. Jinx approached her from behind and when he stood only a few centimetres away from her, whispered in her ear: "Hello sugar."

Keira winced and instinctively made a step back, directly into Jinx arms. He held her for a short moment and then loosened his grip on her waist. "Take care of yourself. Blondie would kill me if you get hurt when I'm there." "You exaggerate Jinx. This has nothing to do with you. Jak would kill every one of us if we let her get hurt." Tess said. Keira blushed and Jinx laughed. "You're right about that, honey!"

Keira clung at her glass. Jinx looked over her shoulder, coming far too close to her body, and said to the ottsel: "This glass looks much too empty for me. Can we get two more of those explosive drinks I like so much?" Tess shot a worried look at the women. Keira didn't like hard alcohol. And the drink Jinx had ordered was one of the extreme hard kinds. But the blue haired woman nodded slightly and handed Tess the empty glass.

* * *

Hope you liked it. Please R & R


	4. Chapter 4

Here comes number four.

_I don't own the story and Characters from Jax & Daxter, Jak II and Jak 3. They belong to Naughty Dog!_

_The storyline of the fiction is mine. _

_I don't earn any money with this._

* * *

**Eco**

When Jak felt the eco take control over him and the dark power haul off to hurt, to kill Torn, he didn't try to resist the urge to destroy everything. And Torn didn't move. The tattooed man didn't try to avoid the punishment for what he had done. That was the moment the light eco pushed trough and he stopped dead. He felt the wings push out and took off. The wind carried Torn's words away unheard.

Jak flew as fare as his wings could carry him. The darkening sky had the violet colour of dark eco; the nightly air was cool, but still warm against his from light eco cooled skin. The forest beneath him became darker with every minute and he couldn't tell the trees apart anymore. He used up all his light eco to bring as much distance between himself and any other human being, including Torn, before he changed back. As he set food on the forest soil the dark eco took over the control again and he started to run. The dark pushed all his human instincts aside since there was no light eco there anymore to control it. The only reasonable thought that was left told him _not_ to turn around and hunt down the man who had hurt him that much. And so he ran away from Heaven City always further into the darkness of the forest.

The beast within him smelled and heard the river long before he could see it. He speed up and felt the lower branches scratch his skin. The wounds healed so fast he hardly felt them. He only felt the simmering hot when the cuts and scratches closed almost as fast as they had been made. When he came to the border of the river he growled. There was no bridge or stone anywhere near by and the water was too broad to jump over.

Furious that the only thing that made sense besides killing couldn't continue, the dark creature battered his claws into the nearest tree and pulled at the trunk until he heard the roods groan and break. With a last effort he pulled the tree from the ground and through it into the river. A mad grin appeared on his face when the trunk landed perfectly in the middle of the water. With a big jump he landed on the wood, hit his black claws into the bark and took off again. Wood splintered and flew into all directions. With a roar he landed on the other side and stopped dead in his tracks. He did feel his communicator fall, heard the metallic sound when it touched the ground and didn't care at all. A small bird sat on the lowest branch and looked at him. It wasn't the bird's lucky day. The poor creature had the same colour like Torn's eyes. Dark snarled and launched forward. A single flap of the light blue wings and the creature was ripped into pieces.

The smell of blood raised his animal instincts and his black eyes searched the trees for more birds of the same colour to wreak his rage on. He felt his muscles tense, smelled the wood, the dried leaves and the birds. Every nerve was tensed. His animal instincts became even stronger; he could hear the fast beating of the bird's heart. He jumped onto the nearest tree, held himself steady only with his shiny black claws and looked out.

He played a horrible game with the poor animals but at the moment nobody was there to witness. He jumped from tree to tree and hunted them down, enjoyed the smell of panic in the air. All those birds had to pay for Torn's mistake. The dark creature would have loved to kill this bastard. First he would have scratched him softly, making him whimper. He would have killed him so slowly. This man had to pay for leaving him in this hell of pain and loneliness.

Dark screeched his pain out into the dark night. How could he just go! Memories came back, memories of a dark stinky cell deep down in the prison, memories of needles, filled with liquid pain. Dark violet tanks. If only he could reach the glass of those tanks! He would break the glass and spill all of the horrible liquid. And he would absorb it and run wild in this prison. Nothing could stop him, none would survive.

A memory surfaced of a brown haired man in red uniform. Dark howled another screech into the night. He had been there! He had seen him. He knew he had survived the first injection and every single one that came after. An intense fire rose in his body, the black pools of his eyes started to glow and he released his anger and all his pain in a thunderstorm of violet energy.

The tremor of the ground woke Daxter and he jumped out of his hiding place just in time before the tree shifted and collapsed into the hole he had been couching in. He fell flat on the forest soil then the next tremor jolted the earth. Violet flashes illuminated the woods and burned everything in their path. Trees fell and caught fire and the unnatural storm continued. "By the Precursors, Jak! Stop this madness before you use up all your energy." Daxter whined terrified.

The dark creature could feel his eco energy drain away very fast. But he didn't want to change back into his week human form. Humans were so sentimental, so emotional. Humans were bad. He drew from Jak's live to stay dark, to stay with only limited feelings. The last bit of light screamed at him. He should stop. He would die. What did he care for dying? He wanted to destroy and if destroying this world meant to die he would do it anyway.

Seem shook Ashelin awake, panic in her eyes. Ashelin felt the trembling of the ground and all of the sudden she was wide awake. She looked up at the sky and could make out a fairer colour from the direction where the forest was. Hastily she jumped to her feet and ran to the entrance of the cave.

The sky over the forest was a mixture of violet flashes and the shining of fire. Ashelin couldn't move. What happened there? "If nobody comes to stop him, the dark will drain away all his life energy. Something has hurt him badly." Seem said from behind her. Her voice trembled. The baroness turned around and stared at the Precursor Monk: "You mean this is Jak?" Seem only nodded and Ashelin started to run. She didn't care for Seem's scream of shock, her words that she couldn't stop him. The red haired woman had only one thought. Jak would die if nobody stopped him!

A violet flash hit a tree right beside him and brought it to fall. The trunk came directly for his head. Only centimetres before it hit him, Dark held up a hand and catapulted the trunk into the forest. Splinters burst into the air as the tree hit other trunks and branches broke. Dark laughed madly and bared his teeth. Yes, he would destroy everything and everyone that would come near him.

When the ceiling started to tremble and gray dust trickled down, Keira didn't wake. She had coped with the first two drinks and had fallen asleep shortly after Tess had placed the third glass in front of her. Her head sunk to her chest and Jinx softly pulled her into his arms. Tess had shot him a strange look.

As the earthquake started Tess jumped from the counter and ran to the door to open it. Jinx lifted Keira onto his arms and followed Tess out of the bar. Keira woke up and looked him in the eyes. "Hello, sleeping beauty", he said, smiling softly. "What happened?" the blue haired asked confused. "An earthquake. We didn't want to stay inside. And since you were fainted…" Jinx grinned. Keira blushed and lowered her gaze. "I was just sleeping", she murmured. "Yes, sure sweetheart." the shot firer laughed: "And that's why you didn't wake up when the earthquake started and the ceiling shot pebbles at us."

Tess had found a save place to wait for her friends and was staring worryingly at the Naughty Ottsel. Daxter's head that had been put back in place rocked heavily now. Tess looked at Jinx who carried Keira in bridal style out of the bar. This was so not Jinx! There was something more behind his behaviour but she didn't have time to think about it now.

Daxter crawled forward while eco energy pulsed over him and lighted the sky. Something was wrong here. Jak would only have so much dark energy if he was standing on an active source. And if this was the fact, Daxter really had a problem. Dark wouldn't let go of Jak as long as he was standing on the source of his power. And since Jak had been running out of light eco… This wasn't good at all. Nevertheless Daxter didn't believe that this was the right theory. Old green head would know about such a source in the middle of his beloved Heaven Forest. So there was only one reasonable explanation for this much dark energy. "You use up your live, don't you?" Daxter growled into the ground and speed up as good as he could without coming in the range of the violet flashes.

It seemed like an eternity when he finally saw Dark. He stood in the middle of a clearing he had made in his rage. The ottsel took one final deep breath then he stood up and shouted at Dark: "Hey dark man. What do you think about releasing your grip on my friend and go back to the hell you came from?

Dark had heard the ottsel crawl through the dried leaves and didn't know what to do. When he had released his power he had only been thinking about Torn, about Praxis and about his pain. But Daxter shouldn't get hurt. And then the orange animal had arrived at the clearing. "Go", Dark snarled.

"Not without Jak. Release him!"

The dark creature hissed. "He doesn't want to. Changing back means getting back his emotional pain." "But it means also to give Torn the chance to explain. If Jak still wants to kill him afterwards you can hack your claws in him then. Release Jak!"

The storm started to fade, the last flashed found their target and suddenly the forest was deadly silent – only the cracking of burning wood was heard. "You'd better get help fast or he dies." Dark jeered and was gone. Jak's limp body fell to the ground.

Ashelin run. She didn't know where she got the energy from, but she had it. Seem followed her without problems as the forest got closer and closer. The baroness broke through the underwood and continued her way without hesitation. Thorns ripped her cloth apart and scratched her skin. She didn't feel it. Her shirt got entangled in a bush and she ripped it open to get it off of her body. She didn't have time for this kind of delaying.

Gasping she arrived at the clearing shortly after the flashlight had stopped. Miraculously no eco energy had hit her. Within a second she registered all protagonists on the clearing and took out her communicator. "Torn, send the fastest airship we have to my location. And give the driver as many green eco packages as you have." She didn't wait for a reply and kneeled down beside Jak's motionless body. There she noticed Daxter. "What has happened?" she hissed. The ottsel waited with his reply and pulled his friend's communicator from his back. "Torn, send dark and – if you can find any – light eco too. It might serve us better than the green." He, too, didn't wait for an answer and hung up. Then he turned to Ashelin. "I would tell you what happened. But I think it would be better if he or Torn told you, ok?" The red haired woman had never seen Daxter so severe. And no comment about her, sitting there only with her bra on!

* * *

Hope you liked it. Please R & R


	5. Chapter 5

Here comes number five

_I don't own the story and Characters from Jax & Daxter, Jak II and Jak 3. They belong to Naughty Dog!_

_The storyline of the fiction is mine. _

_I don't earn any money with this._

* * *

**Rescue**

As he was running to the port, Torn barked orders into his communicator. The earthquake had stopped shortly before Ashelin had called him, so he guessed that Jak had been the reason for it. A shiver run down his spine every time he was thinking about it. How could Jak have so much power?

He slithered to a halt in front of the Naughty Ottsel and looked around. The door was open but nobody was in. Then he spotted an orange figure at the border of the pavement that looked into the water. Beside her sat Jinx with a woman sleeping in his lap. Torn felt a stab of anger when he recognized the blue haired mechanic. "Tess, why are you out here?" he asked and got an angry look from Jinx. He moved a finger to his lips and then looked down at Keira.

Torn shook his head and then turned to Tess. "We went outside when the first earthquake started. She already was sleeping when we were in and fell asleep again as soon as we sat down." the female ottsel explained. Torn nodded and then said: "Daxter found him. But he is badly hurt. I sent a transporter to get him somewhere out of the middle of Heaven Forest. Is it okay for you if we bring him here? I fear it will take us too long to transport him into one of the headquarters." "If you help me prepare the room, I see nothing that speaks against this plan." Tess said and started to walk for her bar. The tattooed man turned his back to Jinx and the sleeping Keira and followed the female ottsel.

"What's wrong with my shot firer?" Torn asked while helping Tess preparing a bed for the wounded hero. The ottsel looked up: "Well, I guess he's in love." The man's eyes became wide. Well, that was interesting information!

When they had finished Torn took something out of his pocket and put it on the counter. "I gave order to take dark and light eco to Jak, but I'm not sure if it will be enough. I'm very sure that he used up all his eco energy. Give him the light first, to control his rage. There are much more light crystals than dark ones. Should he change, into Light, give him one from time to time." "Won't you stay?" Tess asked as Torn turn to leave.

He looked back to her with a look that nearly broke her heart: "I'm the reason he is where he is now. Do you think it would be good if I'm anywhere near this place when he wakes up?"

Torn was already out of the door when Tess called him back. "Torn, don't go too fare. He might need you soon enough. We might need you here." He smiled sadly and left.

The airship was her Speed Drive Transporter. Torn had organised the fastest vehicle available. When she saw the pilot jump out of the cockpit she smiled. And he had sent their best driver.

The man in the blue armour ran to the place where they were all sitting and took something out of his pocked. "Where did you get that from?" Ashelin asked in surprise. "Torn organised them, my Lady. Directly from the sage, my Lady." She nodded and took the green eco crystals from the pilot. She forced Jak's mouth open and put one of the precious crystals on his tongue. Then she cut his shirt open and put the other two green glowing crystals on his back.

"Never knew you are a healer, Ashe", Daxter said. She looked up: "I got some lessons from Samos on the use of these – for emergencies he said." "Old green head! Always knowing about everything that comes long before we do.", the ottsel murmured and turned his gaze back on Jak who had started to recover visibly. "Hey you ", Daxter called to the pilot: "Do you have dark and light eco too?" The man nodded and handed the ottsel two packages.

"Torn wasn't able to organize crystals of this, huh?" he smirked and put the held the light eco close to his unconscious friend. The limp body absorbed it immediately. Daxter broke the dark eco package and held it out. Jak started to move, his eyelids flattered. "Welcome back among the living!" Daxter grinned. Jak smiled weekly and fainted again.

"I guess we can transport him now, don't we?" Ashelin said. The ottsel nodded. The pilot lifted the motionless body and carried Jak into the transporter. The green crystals fell from Jak's back. They didn't glow anymore and had become gray. Daxter was in even before him and waited impatiently for the two women. "We'll give you a ride back to Spargus." the baroness said and signed Seem to board too. The Precursor Monk nodded hesitantly and followed her inside.

The royal SDT really was a fast transporter and only a few minutes after the takeoff they already landed in Heaven City's port. Ashelin jumped out of the vehicle and looked around. Two empty Hellcats waited for them but none of the guard was to be seen. The baroness looked around and saw a brown haired figure walk away from the landing place. "Torn.", she whispered. "He is said friend, isn't he?" Seem asked from behind her. Ashelin looked surprise. "You are very attentive yourself, Seem. Yes, he is. We'll talk about it later, okay?" The monk nodded.

The pilot had carried Jak into one of the Hellcats and waited patiently for further orders. Ashelin climbed the other Cruiser and said: "Drive to the Naughty Ottsel and carry him in there. I bet Tess has already prepared a bed or something." The man nodded and took off.

Jinx saw Torn drive the two Hellcats to the port, saw the man wait for the first sign of the transporter. He saw Torn leave and the SDT arrive, saw three humans jump out of it and get in the waiting vehicles. Then he shifted his body and lifted the still sleeping Keira onto his arms again.

The shot firer kicked the door open and called for Tess: "They landed. I bring Keira to bed and come back down as soon as I hear them enter." The female ottsel had no time to answer as Jinx already disappeared to the back room and up the stairs to the few bedrooms. Keira had rented a room in the Naughty ottsel when she separated from Jak. Daxter wouldn't want to take any money from her, so she had offered to help cleaning the bar. Daxter didn't want to accept this either, but the woman had threaten to look for another room if she wasn't allowed to help or pay. In the end Daxter was glad to have her. She was a fast cleaner and a great help to the ottsel pair.

Tess woke from her memories of Daxter arguing with Keira about the payment when she heard the Hellcats land. Ashelin held the door open and a man with blue armour entered, carrying the unconscious Jak. "Bring him here. We didn't have much time to prepare a bed. I hope this will do nevertheless." Tess said and jumped down from the bar stool she had been sitting on.

Seem stood at the bedside and observed the patient silently. Ashelin couldn't see any changing on Jak as the Precursor Monk suddenly looked worried. She narrowed her eyes and said alerted: "He's getting weaker." Ashelin's eyes became wide. "Why?"

The other woman looked up: "He lacks of eco; Light as well as dark. He used all the eco energy we gave him to recover from what he did in the Forest." Ashelin felt her panic raise: "But we don't have any more eco!" She nearly screamed. Seem looked sad. She couldn't do anything about it.

Both women flinched as Tess jumped onto the bed and held up a black and two white eco crystals. They were quite small and almost perfectly round. "Where did you get those from?" Ashelin asked while Seem put the crystals so close to Jak's body that they nearly touched him. "It helps. But I'm not sure if it will be enough." Seem said in a low voice. The red haired woman barley noticed her. She was staring at Tess. "A friend brought them here, about fifteen minutes before you arrived."

"Who?" the baroness wanted to know. Whoever had enough money to buy so many eco crystals – let alone light and dark ones – had to be someone very important; and completely unknown to her. Tess didn't look her in the eye. "Who?" Daxter put a hand on his girlfriends shoulder and looked up at Ashelin: "Why is it important?" He could be so unpredictable! And he stood always behind his friends and especially behind Tess. Seem chipped in: "Because whoever it is, has saved Mar's life – for the moment at least."

Everybody turned their heads to the Precursor Monk and stared. Seem shrugged: "He uses up the eco energy very fast. I don't know how much he still needs." Ashelin looked back at Tess: "Please, I only want to know so that I may thank this person!" Tess didn't look up but said: "Torn"

When the first light of dawn shined trough the windows of Keira's room she woke with a terrible headache. Slowly she sat up and winced at the pain. That had definitely been too much! With narrowed eyes she looked around in the room and detected a sleeping figure on the only chair in the chamber. A soft smile appeared on her face.

Carefully she stood up and walked over to the door. She didn't want to wake him. It had been a long night and if Jak wasn't awake yet, it wouldn't change anything if she'd wake the sleeping man. Silently she left the room and walked down the stairs. The main room of the Naughty Ottsel looked funny. On a table someone had improvised a bed on which the sleeping Jak laid. At his side sat a Precursor Monk and watched him. Ashelin had fallen asleep and leaned on the wall. Tess and Daxter lay, tails winded together, beside each other on the counter. A blue uniformed man stood barley awake at said counter and watched the door.

Trying not to make a noise she walked over to the monk and asked with a whisper: "How is he?" The monk looked up and Keira recognized Seem. The woman looked at her patient and pointed at a nearly empty canvas bag. "I guess his all right now, only needs a bit more sleep. Those helped a lot." she pointed out. The blue haired woman looked at her inquiringly and so Seem explained: "Mar has run out of energy. He used his life energy when he was on the verge of changing back. And we replaced this energy with eco." Keira nodded and stepped back from the bed. That was when she noticed a movement at the door. The Freedom League soldier didn't notice – he had finally fallen asleep too.

Keira silently walked to the door and looked out. She saw a brown haired man hurry away and followed him quickly. At the next corner she caught up with Torn and laid a hand onto his shoulder. The Tattooed Wonder flinched as if she had hit him.

"Why are you loafing around in front of a closed bar, when all your friends are in said bar?" Torn ignored her question and asked: "How is he?" Keira rolled her eyes at the Freedom League leader's behaviour and answered: "Jak's still sleeping. But thanks to some eco crystals – the Precursors know where Seem got them from – he's going to be fine." "Good.", said Torn and jumped on a nearby zoomer. He took off without a word of good bye and left the confused Keira. So she returned just in time to see Daxter fall off the counter. He landed with an unhealthy crack and started to curse. This woke his beloved Tess who looked over the edge of the counter and tried to hide a grin.

Seeing her behaviour Daxter cursed even louder and so woke Ashelin. She sat up in the same moment when Jinx stepped through the door of the back room and yawned. "Looks like we need breakfast." Keira said with a smile and looked at the shot firer. "Since you seem to be the only one able to… Would you mind coming along with me to the baker?" "No problem, honey." he said and followed her out of the bar. Daxter stared at them unbelievingly and made Tess laugh at him once again this morning.

Torn had watched the Hellcats speed to the Naughty Ottsel. He sighed and went to the room he had rented for the night. It was as close to Daxter's as possible and lucky for Torn quite cheap. He knew perfectly well that he wouldn't be able to sleep as long as Jak wasn't awake, but he had to find a room to stay, otherwise he would go for the Naughty Ottsel over and over again.

And as expected he paced the room over and over again till dawn. He left the room at the first light of the rising sun and ran to the Naughty Ottsel. Torn felt the need to enter, felt how everything wanted to go in there and feel Jak's warmth – the warmth of life! Somehow he found the strength to resist. But the urge to look in there he couldn't resist. And of course someone saw him! He cursed and turned on his heel. He didn't run. Somehow he wanted her to catch up.

And somehow, within all his sorrow for Jak, he felt anger rise. Anger, because Keira had hurt him so much. But when she caught up, everything vanished – except for the worry. "Jak's still sleeping. But thanks to some eco crystals – the Precursors know where Seem got them from – he's going to be fine." He was so relieved! He lived and he would be all right. He took off, heading for a coffee shop somewhere on the bazaar. For the first time in ten hours he felt relaxed. And hot coffee was something he really needed now!

Keira linked her arms with Jinx as soon as they were out of view of the big shiny devil Daxter. He gave her an irritated look but said nothing. "We'll go for bread and stuff to the bazaar, okay?" she said with a big smile. "You're a living sunshine, aren't you?" The blue haired woman laughed and dragged him to a nearby car. "You drive!" she said with a grin and walked to the other side of the car. Jinx was faster since he didn't need to change side and waited patiently for his companion to get in. "You know that this is going to take us an eternity, don't you?" he asked. She nodded and replied with a smile: "But they have the best bread in town." He sighed and started the vehicle.

Of course Jinx had been right. The morning traffic was horrible and he got the feeling that they would have been faster by foot. He nearly hit the front car when he suddenly felt something – that turned out to be a head – on his shoulder. Ready to snarl at the woman beside him he turned his head and discovered that she had fallen asleep again. He smiled softly and turned back to the traffic.

It took them almost one hour to reach the bazaar. The upper zone was full of slow drivers and the pavement filled with pedestrians. Anyway, they had made it – finally. Jinx parked the car and carefully woke Keira. "Sweetheart, we're there." he whispered softly and kissed her on the forehead. The blue haired woman moved and her eyes flattered open. She mumbled something about sleep and not waking up and huddled against his chest. With a sigh he shook her softly. "You need to wake up or I'll leave you here with the car. She grumbled and sat up. She looked dishevelled from the flight and from cuddling her head on his shoulder. "Angel, you might need a mirror." he said with a smile and mildly ignored her blush. She giggled and hastily tried to fix her hair, only making it worse. "Am I allowed to help you?" he asked carefully and got an angry look from her. Nevertheless Keira lowered her hands and accepted her fate.

Keira and Jinx weren't back when Jak started to move. Ashelin was preparing the plates and glasses for the breakfast. Seem had finally found some sleep, now that she knew that Jak wasn't in any danger anymore. The two ottsels were preparing coffee for anybody who needed or wanted one. The Freedom League pilot was standing there and felt a little uncomfortable. Ashelin looked up: "Do you want breakfast too?" The pilot looked at her irritated. He was still an inferior to her. The baroness could almost hear his thoughts. She laughed: "Today is a day to remember. You helped to make this day possible, so why shouldn't you be allowed to eat with us?"

Tess lifted two cups onto the counter and said: "What's your name?" The pilot looked at her in disbelieve. The female ottsel smiled: "Nobody had the time to introduce you. And I like to know the names of my friends."

"I'm Victor." Tess smiled: "It's always nice to get new friends. Especially when they're as skilled as you are. Thanks a lot for your help!" With that she filled one of the cups on the counter and pushed into his direction. Victor nodded thankfully and took hold of the cup.

"This smells utterly nice! Is this coffee?" They all turned to the bed where Jak lay. He wasn't unconscious anymore and looked pretty hungry. "I fear my dear friend that you were to fast in waking up. Keira isn't back with the bread yet." Daxter said with a grin and handed Ashelin a full cup. The read haired woman took it and carried it over to Jak. "Thanks Ashe. How did I get here?"

"You used up pretty much of your energy. When I found you, Dark had started to suck at your life energy. Ashelin organized a Hellcat driven by our dear friend Victor, which brought you here." Jak nodded at the pilot and smiled. Then his expression darkened and his gaze got lost in the dark brown liquid in the cup. Ashelin didn't know what to do. Only Tess found a good way of copping with the difficult situation. She continued to prepare breakfast. Daxter climbed back onto the counter to help her, Ashelin sat back beside Jak's bed and waited.

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Hope you like it. Please R & R


	6. Chapter 6

Here is the last one! Enjoy

_I don't own the story and Characters from Jax & Daxter, Jak II and Jak 3. They belong to Naughty Dog!_

_The storyline of the fiction is mine. _

_I don't earn any money with this._**  


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In The End**

Torn had arrived at the bazaar shortly before Jinx and Keira landed. He walked over to his favourite coffee shop and ordered a cup of steaming hot coffee. Standing there at the counter of the small shop, he saw a car land. At the view of the blue hair, Torn made a step back, deeper into the shadows and watched the couple. He saw the look on Jinx face; saw how tenderly he touched her hair.

The tattooed man couldn't believe how carefully Jinx was. He even helped her out of the car!

"Do you need a coffee first or are you able to tell bread form stones?" he teased. Keira looked at him offended. Suddenly all the happy being together was gone and she stalked away from him, over to the bakery. Jinx sighed and closed his eyes. When he reopened them Torn stood before him. The shot firer flinched. How had his commander gotten there?

Torn watched the blue haired woman go and turned to the waiter. "Can you give me another coffee and a latte?" Torn said, without knowing why he did so. As soon as he had the cups he turned around and walked over to Jinx. The shock in his shot firer's eyes was amusing. "Here. The latte is for your girl. She'll like it. And don't forget to apologize for whatever you said to her."

"How did you get here?" Jinx asked. Torn smiled grimly: "I've been getting myself a coffee, when I saw you arrive." The other man nodded. "Why those?"

Torn grinned: "Do you know how often I affronted Ashelin during the time we spent together? A coffee can save lives, especially if you hurt someone precious to you." "And you seem to save many lives at the moment." "I destroyed many, too." Before Jinx could say anything more, Torn had turned around and walked back to the coffee shop where a lonely cup was still waiting for him.

"Why do you avoid our blond hero?" the shot firer murmured while hurrying after Keira. He caught her waiting in the queue in front of the baker. Jinx held out the latte to her with an apologizing look. The blue haired girl stared at him in disbelieve. "I thought you might like a coffee after that night." She smiled softly and took the cup from his fingers. He tried not to grab for her fingers and looked to the queue.

Torn watched his shot firer walk over to Keira and wondered why he had done this. He was still so angry on her for hurting Jak. But Jak wasn't that sad anymore, he seemed to be okay with the whole situation. "Except for my stupid talking", he murmured sadly and took a sip of coffee.

"Hello!" Keira said with a big smile as she entered the Naughty Ottsel. "Look what I've found! Bread and whatever you want to have it with." Daxter's head appeared from behind the counter and his nose twitched: "Peanuts?" Meanwhile Jinx had entered the bar and shook his head at the ottsel's comment: "I wouldn't believe Keira when she said that you loved peanuts for breakfast!"

"Daxter has always been like that." Keira turned to Jak and happiness lighted her face: "You're awake!" She hurried over to his bed and hugged her friend: "I thought we'd lost you." The heir of Mar carefully put an arm around the blue haired woman and pressed her against his chest. "You don't cry do you?" he asked softly. Keira shook her head but didn't look up. "Hey sweetie, I'm okay. You all took good care of me."

Ashelin carefully watched Jak. They weren't more than friends anymore. Same as she and Torn were. It still hurt to think about the pain in his eyes when their relationship ended, but they had arranged themselves around the memories. And the baroness really believed that they had made it. The circumstances couldn't be changed, but that didn't matter that much anymore – more for Torn than for her though. When letting her gaze wander over the others she noticed a slightly painful look on Jinx face. And Tess was looking at the shot firer thoughtfully.

"And since we're completed now, we should eat." Daxter said and stared at the brown paper bag Jinx was still holding. Ashelin glanced at the door and noticed Keira doing the same, so the red haired woman stepped closer to her and said: "He won't come, will he?" Keira shook her head: "I saw him outside when you all were asleep. But he wouldn't come anywhere near Jak and fled when I saw him." Ashelin nodded and looked between the foods for anything she liked. "For you we found something good!" Keira said with a laugh and took a small bag from between bread and the jar of coffee. The red haired woman looked puzzled and took the bag from Keira. She opened it and smiled widely. "How do you come to know that I love kiwis for breakfast?" she asked.

"I've been working for and with you long enough to notice." Jinx said. The baroness nodded and then asked Tess for a small spoon. Everybody was quite surprised that Keira and Jinx had actually found everyone's favourite breakfast. Ashelin noticed the last paper bag on the counter and looked at Keira. She shrugged: "I hoped he might show up." The baroness smiled sadly: "Me too, Keira. Me too."

The breakfast was a loud and cheerful mess. The two ottsel barely managed to cook enough coffee in time. Some Freedom League people had joined the party after they had finished the night shift in the port. They were sitting on tables and chairs, Ashelin and Keira were sitting beside each other on the counter. Jak was talking with Seem about the state of affairs in Spargus. Everything was fine up to the moment someone mentioned Commander Torn. Ashelin, Tess and Daxter froze. A stony look appeared on Jak's face. The poor Freedom League Soldier who had asked where his commander was stared in shock at the baroness' face. She shook her head almost invisibly and looked over to the heir of Mar. The young man stared into the nothingness behind his cup and the first signs of dark eco showed in his eyes. Nevertheless Ashelin had the feeling that it was sadness more than rage in his look. At least something! Seem took one of the remaining light eco crystals from the bag and held it close to Jak's body. The dark, violet shade in his eyes disappeared as the light balanced the dark.

"You should get this sorted out, Mar. Or you might lose your senses as well as your life." Seem said with a low voice as she took the crystal away again. She knew all to well that he would absorb all the light energy, even if he didn't need it. And they didn't have that many crystals left.

"How?" he shouted and looked at the monk with a furious gaze. "I don't know what made you so angry. But you really should talk about it, Mar." she said with her usual calm voice. Jak shook his head and stared back into his cup.

Slowly the Naughty Ottsel started to empty and Tess, Daxter and Ashelin began to clean the mess. The clinging of glasses and cups filled the room. Keira and Jinx were taking about some freaking new machine for the city races, Victor had been given a room for the day – he wasn't able to drive anymore –, Seem was still awake and sat beside Jak's bed, guarding the hero's condition.

Everything calmed down and felt peaceful. Up to the moment when Ashelin felt her communicator get off and Torn's voice sounded through the room. "Ashe, I know I'm not allowed to call you there, but we have an emergency! Metalheads broke through or defences again. They…" The baroness interrupted him, as she saw the reflections of the first violet flashes on the walls: "You aren't allowed to! Which part of it didn't you get?" "Ashe, they broke through the wall of the port!" The red haired woman stared at her communicator in disbelieve. After a few seconds of shock she sped to the door.

She instantly drew back her head and a violet shot hit the back wall of the bar. "They're already here!" she shouted and slammed the door shut. "Everybody behind the counter. NOW! Get yourself weapons. Jinx, help me barricade the door." Ashelin moved almost as fast as Jak would have and barked the orders.

Jak didn't move. He continued to stare into his cup, violet light flashing around his body, pupils getting darker with every second. Stopping in a fast movement Ashelin slapped him and shouted: "If you don't plan to use these weapons you have you should hand them to someone more active." His head snapped up and shiny black pupils stared at her. He exposed his fangs in a snarl. The baroness looked back in the same icy way as he did and said: "Stop acting like a child and help. You can be offended again when this is over. And I really don't want to have you out there, but you might be our only chance to survive." Without waiting for an answer she took another chair and used it to barricade the door. Daxter emerged from behind the counter and climbed Jak's leg. "C'mon partner. They need us, and they won't make it without the help of the demolition duo." The hero's body relaxed a bit and his eyes seemed a little less dark. "So they need us again, don't they?" Even his voice seemed a bit more relaxed than before, and less scratchy. Daxter nodded.

The next second Jak stood and looked at the red haired woman. Ashelin smiled grimly. She gave him his armour and said: "May the Precursors protect you. And don't kill any of our people if you can avoid it, okay?" The heir of Mar knew all too well what she meant. Don't kill Torn if you come across him out there.

Jak sneaked out of the Naughty Ottsel without a noise, climbed a nearby building and checked the situation in the port. "Bloody hell!" he coursed and stared at the mass of onrushing Metalheads. "They head for the Ottsel. As if the try to…" "Try to get something – or someone – out there." Jak finished his friend's sentence.

"You might need those." a voice from behind said. The heir of Mar turned around and looked at Jinx who held a box with grenades out for him. "If you hit these beast two meters before the door of the Ottsel, you can maximize the damage." Jak nodded and took the first explosive egg. "And Jak." The other man looked back. "Call him, or you will not survive this." "And how do you know that, bomb freak?" Daxter asked angrily. The demolition duo never needed help.

A colourful animal landed on Jinx shoulder and looked at said duo. "Onin." Jak nodded and threw the first grenade and the Metalheads below. As Jinx had promised the damage was as high as possible. But it was also as if he had hit a wumbee nest. The monsters started to climb the facade with inhuman screeches. "Daxter, get the grenades. I'll cover your back. If they build a bunch again, kill them!"

The beasts climbed the wall so fast, Jak could barley shoot fast enough to get them off of their backs. He hit the approaching Metalhead with the handle of his gun, spun around to shoot the following two and kicked the fourth off of the roof. The forth explosion shook the building as Daxter killed a whole troop of Metalheads. Jak heard the clicking of the creatures wings the same moment he aimed at another beast. His finger pulled the trigger and he closed his eyes. He would never be fast enough to kill the flying Metalhead behind him. But nothing hit him. He reopened his eyes just in time to block of the strike of the beast that had followed his dead companion onto the rooftop. Another grenade shook the Naughty Ottsel. The orange Lightning jumped back onto Jak's shoulder. He had run out of grenades.

The heir of Mar didn't turn around to look who had saved him. He could feel him and he resisted the urge to turn around and strike at the brown haired man behind him. But instead he took the gun in one hand while his other transformed into a pale paw with shiny claws. He battered three oncoming creatures with these claws and shot another two with the gun. Changing to the blaster he blew a bunch of Metalheads off of the roof and stepped forward to check how many were left. The dark eco took hold of him. He lay his gun down carefully and jumped down, changing in the fall and releasing a blow of dark energy on the creatures down there.

It was as if time stood still for a few moments. Jak hit the ground like a meteor and the eco expanded from his landing point like a violet shock wave. The creatures were lifted from the ground and died in midair when the flashes of energy hit them. Jak didn't change back as usual since the eco crystals had given him more eco than he could normally keep. His fangs emerged as he smirked at the remaining creatures. His tempo was too fast for anyone to see and when finally the Freedom League soldiers arrived, Jak had already changed back and was washing the blood off of his hands and face.

On the roof, Torn picked up Jak's gun and climbed down the back side of the building. His plan was to bring the armour into the Naughty Ottsel and disappear the same way he had come here. Well, he hadn't counted Ashelin in.

"Torn!" she screamed and flung her arms around his neck. "Cool down, Ashe. I'll be gone in a moment. I just thought our hero might like to have his gun back." "You won't leave. Not before I know where you got these damn crystals from!" Torn shot a sharp look at Tess how only shrugged. What could she have done? The Freedom League leader sighed and looked at Ashelin. "I had them, period. And now let me leave! He'll kill me as soon as he gets in here!" The sad look on the baroness' face hurt him, but he really couldn't stay. "Ashe, please." She let go of him and he turned to leave the bar through the back door.

"You do know that you saved his life, don't you?" Torn stopped and looked over his shoulder. "I've been the soldier who deserted because of inhuman experiments in the prison of your father. I've been the one who left the only _object_ that had survived the first injections to his fate. I've been the one who left him there. And I'm not even capable of regretting it. So do you really think I have the right to say that I _saved_ his life?"

Jak sat in front of the broken door and listened to the discussion in the room. He had given up his plan of getting into the Naughty Ottsel through the front door the moment he had heard Torn speak. Now he sat there, leaned against the cold wall of the bar and closed his eyes. So this was the reason he had survived the night. Because someone had brought a bunch of eco crystals to Tess. Because Torn had brought a bunch of eco crystals to her. Jak sighed and closed his eyes. His ottsel friend sat beside him with twitching ears and listened to the sound coming from the inside of his bar. After a while he looked up. "Jak?"

The hero opened his eyes and focused his gaze on Daxter. "I think you should try to forgive him. I mean you really like him!" Jak closed his eyes again and said nothing. The ottsel rolled his eyes and jumped onto Jak's shoulder. He took hold of the long ear, took a deep breath and yelled as loud as he could – which was, for a small creature as he was – pretty loud. The heir of Mar flinched, grabbed Daxter by the neck and pulled him off of his shoulder. Still somewhat woozy from the noise he looked at the orange fur ball in his hand: "What was that good for?" Said fur ball stared at him angrily. "You like him, don't you?"

"And if you're right. What would that mean? That I fell for the one who could have saved me from the torture in the baron's prison! He was there, Daxter. I can remember his face in that damn red uniform of the crimson guard." He fell silent for a moment, his voice trembled and he hated himself for it. "You don't know what I've been trough in there." He let go of Daxter who landed on all four. The ottsel hated it when Jak was sad, but he had to go through this, or he would kill Torn sooner or later.

"Nevertheless it is your past! Don't blame him for what he has done back then. It's almost five year now and he was young then. Can you imagine how he felt? How this feels for him?" "No I can't imagine and I really don't want to! You heard him. He even doesn't regret leaving me in there!"

"He doesn't regret because it made you the man you now are, Jak." The demolition duo hadn't noticed the door open. They even hadn't heard the noise of chairs being moved around – away from the entrance. Ashelin stood in the door frame and looked over the water, avoided Jak's confused eyes.

A long silence followed before anybody spoke. Ashelin felt a light wind tear at her hair. The calm after the fight was relieving. Even though there still was blood all over the pavement the port had found a moment of peace. The water was a brilliant blue and reminded her of Jak's eyes. And Torn's. She imagined how their eyes would meet, the blue they would create – the same blue as the water had now. She shook her head and looked back at Jak. She was getting sentimental!

Jak stared at a drying pool of Metalhead blood without seeing it. Its colour slowly changed from red to brown – the brown of Torn's hair. But Jak didn't see. He was just thinking while staring into nothingness. What should he do about him? How should he look into the others eyes ever again without loosing control over his darker personality?

Daxter just sat there and felt a bit out of place. He listened to the noises from his bar, the clinging of glasses and plates, chairs that were moved. He heard the light steps of Tess' paws and the heavy boots of the Freedom League pilot. Daxter noticed every movement of the red haired baroness and looked up as she turned her gaze back to Jak. Lightly he touched his friends arm. Jak flinched.

"What?" He had sounded angrier than he had planed, but he couldn't take it back now. The woman that saved the day was a small orange animal called Tess. She pulled a paper bag out of the bar and stared at the hero angrily. "You're getting on my nerves!" she snared and Daxter looked at her with wide eyes. He had never seen her like that. Jak, too, stared at her strangely and waited. "He came here, before they brought you with the SDT and handed me a bag filled with dark and light eco crystals. Then he left without a word and a broken heart. When you finally decided to wake up he fled the area around the Naughty Ottsel to keep the distance between you. And then, after Onin told you that you would need him, you ignored him completely!" "None said you should call him!" Jak finally shouted at her. "We didn't call him, Jak." Ashelin said. The hero froze and stared in disbelieve at the two women. "Go ahead and look for him." "And bring him those. I bet he hasn't had any breakfast" Tess said and pointed at the paper bag. Jak felt Dark take over the control over his movements, without changing his body; felt his own hand grab for the bag and felt his body move. As he stood the light eco balanced the darkness and he regained control. He sighed. "Do we have a light eco crystal left?"

Minutes later he sat on a Zoomer and searched the city for a sign of the Freedom League commander. He had left Daxter behind. Somehow he didn't want to have his ottsel friend along this time.

The port was still filled with soldiers from the Freedom League and Jak didn't believe that he would find Torn there. After an hour of searching he stopped the Zoomer in mid air and took a deep breath. Since the war, there were just too many roads and places where one man could hide. He turned his gaze to the sky and closed his eyes for a while. He needed a map. And with this the solution came to his mind. Out of the sudden he _knew_ where Torn was. The place, where this whole mess had started: The old Headquarter, where Torn always stood and brooded over maps!

Jak turned the Zoomer, changed the height and rushed through the pedestrians into the direction of the slums. He hit some old barrels and maybe one or two pedestrians, but he didn't care. He let the vehicle smash into the wall beside the old hideout, jumping off just in time.

Right before he rushed into the old Underground HQ he slithered to a halt. What should he do when he was in there? Surely he would get mental as soon as they would start talking about the past. Daxter's words came to his mind. It was the past. But still he had to know the reason.

Torn had heart the explosion outside the hide out. He had been thinking about leaving over the roof tops but decided against it. He couldn't run away for ever, could he? As Jak didn't enter Torn had thought that he had misinterpreted the noise from the outside.

As he heard the opening of the door he took a deep breath and held it, until he saw Jak's boots, then his pants and belt, his jacket and finally his blue eyes. Torn couldn't hold his gaze and looked at his maps. He let the breath out and forced himself to look back at the heir of Mar.

Jak concentrated on the light within his body and stared back at the Tattooed Wonder. "Why?" Despite the desperate situation Torn smirked. "I'm really sorry but I don't know which part of it."

Jak glanced at him in disbelieve and then smirked back. "Why have you saved me? Why have you saved my life twice? Why are you so unpredictable? And why didn't you try to defend yourself back in Heaven Forest?" Torn nodded and sat down on the table. "I saved your life because you are my friend. I saved your life twice because you are the hope for this city. I am unpredictable as you called it because this is what saved my life a lot of times in the past. And I didn't defend myself because I deserve your hate and the punishment. I left you there and I knew what Praxis was planning to do. But I was young and I was weak."

Jak made some steps and now stood directly in front of Torn. "Why have you left the Crimson Guard?" The Freedom League commander looked at him in surprise. This was not the question he had expected. He thought about his answer carefully. "I left because I couldn't bare the Barons politic anymore, because it was inhuman." Another nod. The Tattooed Wonder waited. Jak weighted his next words. He needed to know so many things from Torn. But some things had to wait. "What was your task in Baron's prison?" The other man gulped and took another deep breath. "I had to guard the prisoners that were supposed to undertake the Dark Worrier Program. Only a few days after we started with the first _objects_ a new prisoner arrived. Long I didn't understand why the Baron wanted me to take extra care of this new prisoner. I got a first idea of the reason when this new _object_ survived the injections. When I understood what this meant for the boy, I quit. I couldn't bare those silent hours of pain and suffer."

He had noticed the violet sparkles in the air, but didn't stop his story. If Jak wouldn't accept the story now, he would never do so. "Why did you join the underground?" Torn looked up to meet Jak's gaze. "I wanted to free the boy. I wanted to stop his suffering. But I never had anyone who was reliable enough to get into the prison, free the boy and get them both out safe. Not until you showed up at our place."

Jak shook his head. "Which meant it was too late to save the boy." The Freedom League Leader nodded. He could feel the next question. And wondered how he should answer. "Why don't you regret that you left me there?"

Ashelin had organized some people to clean up the Naughty Ottsel and the port and now sat at the counter, a strong, dark liquid in front of her. Tess stood beside her and watched Keira drawing some plan for a new vehicle. The female ottsel looked at Jinx who watched the blue haired's every move. "Ashe, I am the only one here who has the feeling that there is something going on between our mechanic and your shot firer?"

The baroness looked up. "No you're not. But I have no idea how to help them out. Besides I suffer on a broken heart and will most likely not be able to bear another kissing couple in front of me." Tess looked puzzled. "What?" Ashelin snapped at her. "Well, you don't look broken hearted. Are you sure that you still feel like this?" The red haired woman looked at the ottsel then back at her drink. She couldn't quite understand it but the feelings for Jak had changed. He felt like a brother to her now. "I guess it's the memory of a lost love that still hurts." The female ottsel smirked. "Then we can now take care of these two!" Ashelin lifted an eyebrow. A silent 'how' hung in the air. But the orange fur ball had an idea.

"Hey, Jinx! You do love this wonderful blue haired woman here, don't you?" Tess shouted trough the whole bar and made both Keira and Jinx flinch. The blue haired blushed heavily and shot a quick glance at the man. "What if that was so?" Ashelin couldn't believe it actually was that easy. "Then you should come over here and kiss her, 'cause she loves you as much as you love her!"

And Jinx stood up and walked over to the counter. Ashelin's mouth hung open and she stared unbelievingly at the ottsel. Tess smirked. "They can't all be as stubborn as Torn and Jak, can they?"

"I regret leaving you in this hell of pain and suffering. I regret that I didn't find the courage to save you myself. But I can't regret what these decisions meant to our recent past and near future. So I don't regret what all these events turned out to become. I don't regret it because it made you the man you now are. Because it made you the man that I now love."

* * *

So.. This is the end.

I really loved writing this story. It was something new. All inspired by a picture I drew myself. I don't know yet, maybe I'll someday upload it on Deviantart.

And I know this is a opepen ended story, somehow at least. I don't think I'll write a lemon, because I don't want to ruin the story. Therefore, please don't ask, ok?

I really hope you liked the story. I always love reviews.

Yujianlong


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